Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) targets accelerated adoption and transaction growth as network expands across Africa

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The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) is preparing to accelerate adoption and transaction growth across Africa as it enters the next phase of its strategy, following significant expansion of its network and strong growth in payment volumes and values.

Speaking at a media briefing in Lagos, Mr Mike Ogbalu III, Chief Executive Officer of PAPSS, said the platform now operates in more than 30 African countries across all five regions of the continent. It connects 24 national and regional central banks, more than 200 commercial banks and payments service providers, and 16 switches. Through strategic partnerships, PAPSS also provides a termination footprint covering more than 300 financial institutions.

During 2026 alone, around 10 additional countries have joined the PAPSS ecosystem, with further expansion expected before the end of the year.

Mr Ogbalu said: “The first phase of PAPSS has been about building, connecting and establishing trust. We have built the infrastructure, expanded our network across Africa and demonstrated that PAPSS can deliver tangible benefits. As we move into our next phase from 2027, our focus will increasingly shift towards activating that network, deepening adoption and taking transaction growth to scale.”

Usage of PAPSS has accelerated significantly. Between comparable periods in 2025 and 2026, transaction volumes across the network increased by approximately 1,000 per cent, while transaction values increased by approximately 120 per cent.

Nigeria remains a significant contributor to that growth, recording an approximately 1,100 per cent increase in transaction volumes and a 125 per cent increase in transaction values over the same period.

PAPSS transactions have also demonstrated cost savings of between 92 and 95 per cent per transaction, a 99.99 per cent reduction in processing time and up to 80 per cent reduction in foreign exchange requirements.

Mr Ogbalu added: “The growth we are seeing demonstrates that the infrastructure is working and that demand is increasing as more institutions and markets participate. The next opportunity is to make these benefits available at much greater scale by working more closely with banks, fintechs, switches and other partners to bring PAPSS into the channels businesses and individuals use every day.”

PAPSS enables cross-border payments through participating financial institutions, including transactions using African currencies, helping connect payment ecosystems that have historically operated within national and regional boundaries.

As part of its next phase, PAPSS will focus on deeper market activation, greater customer awareness, development of priority payment corridors and wider availability of its services through participating financial institutions.

PAPSS currently provides three major solutions: the PAPSS Instant Payment System, the PAPSS African Currency Marketplace and PAPSSCARD. New solutions are also being piloted and are expected to be announced later in 2026.

The next phase of PAPSS’s growth will be discussed further at PAPSS COWRY 2026, its annual payments conference, taking place on 26 and 27 November in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, and co-hosted with the National Bank of Ethiopia.

Mr Ogbalu concluded: “We have built the network, we have demonstrated the impact, and we are seeing usage accelerate. Our next phase is about taking all three to scale and ensuring that payments increasingly enable, rather than limit, the ability of African businesses and individuals to participate in opportunities across the continent.”
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Afreximbank.

Media Contact:
Papa Thiongane
Head Marketing & Communications
Email: communications@papss.com

Vincent Musumba
Communications and Events Manager (Media Relations)
Email: press@afreximbank.com

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About PAPSS:
The Pan-African Payment and Settlement System – PAPSS is a centralised Financial Market Infrastructure that enables the efficient flow of money securely across African borders, minimising risk and contributing to financial integration across the regions. PAPSS collaborates with African central banks to offer payment and settlement solutions that commercial banks and licensed payment service providers (switches, fintechs, aggregators, etc.) across the continent can connect to, making these services accessible to the public. To date, PAPSS has developed and launched 3 payment solutions: PAPSS Instant Payment System (IPS), PAPSS African Currency Marketplace (PACM), and the PAPSSCARD. Afreximbank and the African Union (“AU”) first announced PAPSS at the Twelfth Extraordinary Summit of the African Union held on July 7, 2019, in Niamey, Niger Republic, therefore adopting PAPSS as a key instrument for the implementation of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA). PAPSS was officially launched in Accra, Ghana, on January 13, 2022, thus making it available for use by the public.

For more information, visit: https://PAPSS.com/ 

About Afreximbank:
African Export-Import Bank (Afreximbank) is a Pan-African multilateral financial institution mandated to finance and promote intra- and extra-African trade. For over 30 years, the Bank has been deploying innovative structures to deliver financing solutions that support the transformation of the structure of Africa's trade, accelerating industrialisation and intra-regional trade, thereby boosting economic expansion in Africa. A strong supporter of the African Continental Free Trade Agreement (AfCFTA), Afreximbank has launched a Pan-African Payment and Settlement System (PAPSS) that was adopted by the African Union (AU) as the payment and settlement platform to underpin the implementation of the AfCFTA. Working with the AfCFTA Secretariat and the AU, the Bank has set up a US$10 billion Adjustment Fund to support countries effectively participating in the AfCFTA. At the end of December 2025, Afreximbank's total assets and contingencies stood at over US$48.5 billion, and its shareholder funds amounted to US$8.4 billion. Afreximbank has investment grade ratings assigned by China Chengxin International Credit Rating Co., Ltd (CCXI) (AAA), GCR (A), Japan Credit Rating Agency (JCR) (A-), Moody's (Baa2) and S&P Global Ratings (BBB+). The Bank is headquartered in Cairo, Egypt.

For more information, visit: www.Afreximbank.com

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